PBC woman sues Wellington hospital for flushing baby down toilet

A Palm Beach County woman has sued Wellington Regional Medical Center, claiming a hospital worker flushed her baby down a toilet after she suffered a miscarriage in the emergency room bathroom two years ago.

In the lawsuit filed last week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Linda Gomez said she watched in horror as her baby, born more than four months premature, disappeared. She “could readily see the face of (the) child as it was flushed down the toilet … creating an image that (she) cannot forget,” according to the lawsuit filed by Tampa attorney Kennan Dandar.

Hospital officials weren’t immediately available for comment.

In addition to losing her child after 19 weeks of pregnancy in July 2014, Gomez claims hospital officials refused to retrieve the child so she could give the baby a burial “in accordance with her Christian faith.”

“The conduct of the (hospital) and its employee was outrageous, that is, as to go beyond all bounds of decency, and to be regarded as odious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community,” Dandar wrote.

He is seeking an unspecified amount in damages for Gomez for the emotional trauma she endured.

She had gone to the hospital because she was experiencing bleeding. When she went to the bathroom while waiting to see a doctor, she had the miscarriage. Unable to summon help, she cut the umbilical cord herself, Dandar wrote. The unidentified hospital worker heard her screams, flushed the toilet and told Gomez to return to the waiting room, he said in the lawsuit.